As a young man in 19th-century Colombia Florentino Ariza falls in love with a beautiful woman named Fermina. But an overprotective father and too much reality intrude on their romance and Fermina marries a successful doctor Juvenal Urbino. But a wedding ring--and the passing decades—arent enough to dissuade Florentino from his love even as he beds hundreds of women as he tries to get over his undying passion.